On that I fasten, and the intention is complete.
All this is obvious. But one part of the process, and perhaps the most
important part, is apt to receive less attention than it deserves. In
decision we easily become engrossed with the single selected ideal,
and do not so fully perceive that our choice implies a rejection of
all else. Yet this it is--this cutting off--which rightly gives a name
to the whole operation. The best is arrived at only by a process of
exclusion in which we successively cut off such ideals as do not tend
to the largest supply of our contemplated defects. Walking by the
candy-shop, and seeing the tempting chocolates, I feel a strong desire
for them. My mouth waters. I hurry into the shop and deposit my five-
cent piece. In the evening I find that by spending five cents for the
chocolates I am cut off from obtaining my newspaper, a loss
unconsidered at the time. But to decide for anything is to decide
against a multitude of other things. Taking is still more largely
leaving. The full extent of this negative decision often escapes our
notice, and through the very fact of choosing a good we blindly
neglect a best.
VI
Here, then, are the three steps in the formation of the purpose,--the
ideal, the desire, and the decision,--each earlier one preparing the
way for that which is to follow.
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